Regional food bank concerned over cuts to SNAP

President Obama threatens to veto bills with big SNAP funding cuts

Published 7:57 PM CDT Sep 24, 2013

OKLAHOMA CITY -

On any given day, the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank is a busy place.

Founder and Director Rodney Bivens said with the looming cuts to the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more than 650,000 Oklahomans who rely on food stamps could soon depend exclusively on his organization.

“I can't imagine what we're going to do as an organization to meet that increased need,” Bivens said.

On Sept. 19, the House of Representatives voted to slash SNAP by nearly $40 billion over the next decade, a move supported by all five Oklahoma representatives.

Rep. Frank Lucas, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, introduced the bill. After it passed, he released a statement saying the legislation “encourages and enables work participation, closes program loopholes and eliminates waste, fraud and abuse while saving the American taxpayer nearly $40 billion."

Bivens said he empathizes with the lawmakers, but disagrees with this move.

“It’s a difficult situation for our Congressional delegation ... having to balance, trying to have a balanced budget in this country, which I think most of the citizens in the United States would agree with. We’ve got to balance our budget," Bivens said.

"What I would say is we can't balance that budget on the backs of poor people," he continued.

In the last three years, the demand for food bank services has gone up anywhere from 30 to 40 percent, Bivens said. "This is gonna add another 15 to 20 percent on top of that.”

To make matters worse, Bivens said the economic downturn has caused a decline in donations.

“The real regrettable part of that is one out of every four children may go to bed tonight without food,” Bivens said.

He told KOCO the Food Bank will work to make sure children from the area don’t shoulder the burden of the budget battle, “We will put renewed emphasis on our childhood hunger program to make sure that doesn’t happen so every child has access to food that needs it.”

The bill must now clear the Senate to make it to President Barack Obama's desk. The president has repeatedly threatened to veto any measures that dramatically slash funding for SNAP.